Australian taxpayers will shelve out almost $5 billion to the UK Government in order to build our own submarines, the Defence Industry Minister has stated.

The amount will fund an expansion of British production lines, which will handle construction of specific segments of the vessels.

Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy told Gary Adshead on 6PR Mornings this announcement will create thousands of jobs in Australia as the building gets underway in Adelaide and that nuclear, although 5 times more expensive than solar, is valuable for defence.

“You can’t have solar powered submarines and that’s the key difference. Nuclear power in submarines provides the concentrated and endless energy that allows us to have the most capable submarines,” Mr Conroy said.